The poet Keats was heading in the right direction when he said – ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty …that is all ye need to know’. In the Vaisnava spiritual practice the absolute truth is found in the relationship between Radha and Krishna – an exchange of the highest expression of pure beauty and pure love. The book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, sets the scene:
‘It is not that Radharani is separate from Krishna. Radharani is also Krishna, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Radha there is no meaning to Krishna, and without Krishna there is no meaning to Radha. Because of this, the Vaisnava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Radha-Krishna.’
We rise early and meditate on this beauty and this love. Krishna Himself, in Krishna Book, teaches us how:
‘After rising from bed, Lord Krishna would wash His mouth, hands and feet and would immediately sit down and meditate on Himself. This does not mean, however, that we should also sit down and meditate on ourselves. We have to meditate upon Krishna, Radha-Krishna. That is real meditation. Krishna is Krishna Himself; therefore He was teaching us that brahma-muhurta (means the hours before dawn) should be utilized for meditation on Radha-Krishna. By such meditation Krishna would feel very much satisfied, and similarly we will also feel transcendentally pleased and satisfied if we utilize the brahma-muhurta period to meditate on Radha and Krishna and if we think of how Sri Rukmini devi and Krishna acted as ideal householders to teach the whole human society to rise early in the morning and immediately engage in Krishna consciousness. There is no difference between meditating on the eternal forms of Radha-Krishna and chanting the maha-mantra, Hare Krishna.’
And it’s not easy to understand this beautiful love:
‘This exchange of feelings between Krishna and Radharani is very difficult to understand unless one is elevated to the platform of pure goodness. Such transcendental reciprocation is not possible to understand even from the platform of material goodness. One has to transcend even material goodness in order to understand. This is because the exchange of feelings between Radha and Krishna is not a subject matter of this material world. Even the greatest mental speculators cannot understand this, directly or indirectly. Material activities are manifested for either the gross body or the subtle mind, but this exchange of feelings between Radha and Krishna is beyond such manifestations and beyond intellectual mental speculation. It can be understood only with purified senses freed from all the designations of the material world.’
To help us get there we have descriptions of Srimati Radharani from the Caitanya Caritamrita:
‘The rasa dance does not shine in the heart of Krishna without Srimati Radharani. Therefore, He also gave up the circle of the rasa dance and went out to search for Her.’
‘Among the gopis of Vrindavan, Srimati Radharani and another gopi are considered chief. But when we compare the gopis, it appears that Srimati Radharani is most important because Her real feature expresses the highest ecstasy of love. The ecstasy of love experienced by the other gopis cannot be compared to that of Srimati Radharani.’
‘The body of Srimati Radharani is a veritable transformation of love of Godhead; She is the dearmost friend of Krishna, and this is known throughout the world.’
‘Srimati Radharani is the topmost spiritual gem, and the other gopis - Lalita and Vishaka and so on-are expansions of Her spiritual body.’
‘If one asks about the origin of love of Krishna, the answer is that the origin is in Srimati Radharani alone. Who is the most dear friend of Krishna? The answer again is Srimati Radharani alone. No one else.’
‘Even Lord Krishna Himself cannot reach the limit of the transcendental qualities of Srimati Radharani. How, then, can an insignificant living entity count them?’
‘The decorative transcendental pleasure potency manifests nine symptoms. Five of these are manifested by the expansion of Radharani’s personal beauty, which is adorned with garlands of flowers. Her patient calmness is compared to a covering of cloths which have been cleansed by camphor. Her confidential agony for Krishna is the knot in Her hair, and the mark of tilaka on Her forehead is Her good fortune. Radharani’s sense of hearing is eternally fixed on Krishna’s name and fame.’
‘Srimati Radharani is fifteen days younger than Krishna. She always keeps Her hand on the shoulder of one of Her friends, and She always talks and thinks of pastimes with Krishna. She always offers Krishna a kind of intoxicant by Her sweet talks, and She is always prepared to fulfill all His desires. In other words, She supplies everything needed to meet all the demands of Sri Krishna, and She possesses unique and uncommon qualities for Krishna’s satisfaction.’
And we’ll end with a prayer spoken by Srila Prabhupada:
So today we pray to Radharaṇi because She is the pleasure potency of Krishna . Krishna means “all-attractive.” But Radharaṇi is so great that She attracts Krishna . Krishna is all-attractive, and She is the attractor of Krishna . So what is the position of srimati Radharaṇi? We should try to understand this day and offer our obeisances to Radharaṇi.
tapta-kancana-gaurangi radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi pranamami hari-priye
Our business is “Radharaṇi, You are so dear to Krishna . You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu and You are so dear to Krishna. So we offer our respectful obeisances unto You.”
Radharaṇi is hari-priya, very dear to Krishna . So if we approach Krishna through Radharaṇi, through the mercy of Radharaṇi, then it becomes very easy. If Radharaṇi recommends that “This devotee is very nice,” then Krishna immediately accepts, however foolish I may be. Because it is recommended by Radharaṇi, Krishna accepts.
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